The Denham Tracts: a list of monsters

There exist a couple of mysterious lists of all the bogies and fairies of folklore. I say mysterious, because it's hard to define all of the terms. The first is from Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft. The second, which includes and enfolds Scot's list, is from the Denham Tracts by Michael Denham.

These are long lists with no explanations or definitions. Denham's list in particular is confusing, disorganized, and repetitive, but it still catches my imagination. Tom Thumb even makes an appearance!

Like many before me, I set out to define what, exactly, all these weird creatures are supposed to be.

The List (based on the Denham Tracts)

Ghosts: the spirit of a dead person, appearing to the livingBoggles: bogle, bogill. A British (Northumbrian and Scottish) ghost or entity – not really evil or benevolent. One particular boggle is “Tatty Bogle,” depicted as a scarecrow. Derived from Old English “bugge,” a frightening thing, and related to the German bögge and thus goblin.Many of the creatures on this list have "bug" or "bog" in their names, and are in the same range of menacing spirits. Boggart, bogie, bugbear, etc.Related creatures are Shellycoats, Barguests, Brags, and the Hedley Kow.Bloody Bones: A bogeyman used to frighten children. Might live near ponds or inside a cupboard; a blood-covered creature who hoarded the raw bones of naughty children. Also known as rawhead.spirits: ghosts or phantomsdemons: evil spirits or devils from hellignis fatui: will-o-the-wisps, or illusory lights that led people astray. There were various explanations, usually obvious in the names, i.e., Will o’ the Wisp, or a man with a torch. From Latin ignis fatuus: “foolish fire.”Brownies: a household spirit from English and Scottish mythology; little men who cleaned the house in exchange for a bowl of creamBugbears: a bogeyman or hobgoblin used to threaten children. Like many things on this list, its name is derived from Old English “bugge” (or the Welsh bwg, spirit or goblin; the Scottish bogill, goblin, and it is cognate with the German böggel-mann or goblin.black dogs: In Britain, ghostly hounds that appears at night as an omen of death; also known as Grims, Barghests, or Black Shucks. Associated with crossroads. There seem to be almost as many stories of black dogs as there are towns in the British Islands; a few include Hairy Jack, Skriker, and Padfoot.spectres: ghosts or phantoms shellycoats: A kind of Scottish bogeyman that haunted rivers and wore a rattling coat of shells. May mislead travellers or mimic the cries of a drowning person, but relatively harmless. Similar to a Brag, Kelpie, or Nix. Jacob Grimm compared it to the German Schellenrock (“bell-coat”), a puck or brownie.Scarecrows: In parts of England and Scotland, “bogle” was a word for “Scarecrow.” (I.e. Tatty Bogle, depicted as a scarecrow and named for his habit of hiding in potato fields.)Witches: sorcerers, usually womenWizards: men who practice sorcery Barguests: also barghest, boguest or other alternative spellings. A Yorkshire ghost – appearing as a headless person, a white cat, and more, including a variation on the “black dog.” In that area, “ghost” used to be pronounced as “guest.”Robin-Goodfellows, A reference to the character Puck. In the footnotes, he’s described as Oberon’s jester, in a clear reference to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.Robin comes from the name Robert (a name often used for the Devil). Hob, as in Hobgoblin, may be a form of the same name.The Complete Book of Devils and Demons, Ashley: the name Goodfellow is “supposed to disarm enmity through euphemism” – see also fairy names such as the good neighbors, the Fair Folk, les bonnes dames/the good ladies.hags: wizened old women – might be witches, fairies, or goddesses depending on the story.night-bats: Bats and other nocturnal animals were creatures of darkness and thus associated with evil. For this reason, they would later become associated with vampires.scrags: an archaic word for a skinny person (so, interestingly, was "rawboned," also on this list).In Slaughham in the 1890’s, November bonfires were built around a large green post called a “Scrag.” When the fire was done and the scrag was charred, it would be uprooted and carried around to the pubs for drinks.breaknecks: Definition unknown - however, breakneck is a word for dangerous and the Oxford English Dictionary gives breakneck as an obsolete term for a reckless person who risks breaking his neck.fantasms: alternate spelling of phantasm, or ghosthobgoblins: mischievous or fearsome mythical creatures. Shakespeare's Puck was a hobgoblin. "Hob" may mean "hearth," meaning that it is a house fairy. Hob can also be a word for a goblin by itself, and might be a nickname for Robert. Similar to brownies, they seem to be small, hairy little men who do chores at night in exchange for food. They seem to enjoy practical jokes, and are often shapeshifters.hobhoulards: A hobgoblin. Houlard may be relate to "owlet," thus "hob owl" or night goblin. (Transactions of the American Philological Association)boggy-boes: probably more likely to be known as bugaboos. A form of bug or boggart.Dobbies: brownie-like household fairies.hob-thrusts: A kind of helpful brownie or hobgoblin. The footnotes say: “Hob-o’-t’-Hursts, i.e., spirits of the woods. Hobthrush Rook, Farndale, Yorkshire.” According to Whitby Online, the hobthrust was a “boggle” who lived near Runswick Bay and cured whooping cough; Monstropedia calls it a brownie that cooks children’s thumbs.See also thurses and hob-thrushes.Fetches, “the spirit or double of a dying person,” according to the footnotes. A doppelganger in Irish folklore; sighting one was an omen that the original person would soon die.Kelpies: Scottish water-dwelling horses that lured in and devoured people.Warlocks: men who practice witchcraftMock-beggars: There are numerous places known as Mockbeggar, Mock Beggar, or some variation. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894, defines Mock-beggar Hall as a grand place with stingy owners who turn away beggars; Infoplease includes a quote to that effect from Taylor’s Workes.Backofthecerealbox suggests a connection between beggar and boggart.mum-pokers: A nursery room goblin – “mum” as in silent. Poker means a hobgoblin or devil. Similar to hodge poker, tom-poker, hodgepoke, perhaps Puck.Jemmy-burties: will-o-the-wisps. “Burt” probably comes from bright.Urchins: A name for an elf, or a poor child. Also an old-fashioned name for hedgehog, which were said to suck away the milk of sleeping cows.Satyrs: goat-men from Greek mythpans: Pan was a goat-legged Greek god.Fauns: goat-men from Roman mythSirens: In Greek myth, bird-women whose songs lured sailors to their deaths. Later, the name began to refer to mermaids.Tritons: Triton was the fish-tailed son of the Greek god Poseidon.Centaurs: half-horse half-man creatures from Greek mythCalcars: According to Keightley, a form of nightmare or mare (calcare or caucher = French “cauchemare,” nightmare). The Complete Book of Devils and Demons by Leonard R. N. Ashley defines them as calkers, or conjurors.Nymphs: female Greek nature spiritsImps: small goblins, or a witch’s demon familiars. In the original Germanic folklore they were more wild and mischievous and less evil.Incubuses: a male demon who seduced sleeping women. Its female counterpart was the succubus.Spoorns: May be related to “spurs” – Keightley theorizes that, like “calcar,” this is from the idea of riding, and thus some kind of nightmare: an evil spirit that “rode” people and caused frightening dreams and paralysis.Men-in-the-oak: Keightley theorizes that this is Puck."Turn your cloakes, quoth hee, for Pucke is busy in these oakes."--Iter Boreale. Ashley says it comes from older Druidic traditions of the sacred oak and tree-dwelling fairies (i.e. the Oak King or the Green Man).Hell-wains: Keightley suggests the Death-coach of Northern and Germanic lore - a "hell-wagon." Wikipedia links this to the Wild Hunt – an old tale of fairies or ghosts passing by in their hunt. A third point of view, Ashley, describes it as “a phantom wagon seen in the night sky.”Another source lists hellwean as the "devil's child."fire-drakes: firebreathing dragonskit-a-can-sticks: will-o’-the-wisps – i.e., Kit with the Candlestick.Tom-tumblers: Perhaps related to Tom Thumb, or to a will o' the wisp, as suggested by someone writing in Notes and Queries.Melch-dicks: In northern England, Churnmilk Peg and Melch Dick were tiny goblin-like creatures who guarded unripe nuts. They punished transgressors with bloating, cramps, or pinching. (Churn milk was the name for pulpy unripe nuts, and melch means moist.)Larrs: definition unclear, but Wikipedia links toLares, Roman guardian deities.Kitty-witches: Witches. There are a few references of kitwiches, crossdressing men or women who would go from house to house dancing and fiddling for money, around Christmastime. In some accounts the women’s faces were smeared with blood. In Norfolk, this would be a kitch-witch. Presumably connected to the Kittywitches pub and Kittywitches Row in Great Yarmouth.Hobby-lanthorns: will-o’-the-wisps. A torch moving as if on the back of a hobby (small horse or pony) or perhaps being carried by someone named Hob.Dick-a-Tuesdays: will-o’-the-wisps or goblinsElf-fires: will-o’-the-wispsGyl-burnt-tales: will-o’-the-wisps. (All of these names are pretty generic – Jack, Joan, Will, Gill, Jill, Dick, etc.)Knockers: In Welsh, Cornish and Devon folklore, little men who did mischief in the mines or knocked on the walls to warn of impending collapse.Elves: supernatural beings from Germanic lore. Usually supernaturally beautiful, capable of being either predatory or helpful towards humans.Rawheads: See Bloody Bones,Meg-with-the-wads: will-o’-the-wisps. A wad is a torch and Joan the Wad was the Cornish pixie queen.old-shocks: Old Shuck or Black Shuck – black dogs. Otherwise, a name for the Devil, much like Old Scratch.ouphs: An ouphe was a small, mischievous goblin or sprite; related, an auf was a changeling child. Later the word oaf would come to mean a foolish, clumsy person.pad-foots: black dogs. (You’ll notice a couple of terms in here, including dobbies, which show up in the Harry Potter books. Rowling took a lot of inspiration from English folklore.)pixies: a small, mischievous creature, usually humanlike with pointed ears and a pointed hat.pictrees: There was a village named Pictree, and a ghost story of a “Picktree Bragg.” Pictree or pick-a-tree was also a word for a woodpecker.giants: very large creaturesdwarfs: very small creaturesTom-pokers: bugbear used to frighten bad children. Hides in closets, under the stairs, and in other dark spots called “poker-holes.” Poker may come from puck. Presumably related to Hodge Poker/Hodgepoke and mum-poker.Tutgots: Tut-gut, along with tut and tom-tit, were words for hobgoblin. (Brogden, Provincial Words and Expressions current in Lincolnshire.)snapdragons: a snapdragon is a flower as well as a parlour game played on Christmas Eve, where children would pick raisins out of burning brandy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, snap-dragons were also a figure of a dragon built to open and shut its mouth, used in shows and parades.sprets: spritesspunks: spunkies, i.e. will-o’-the-wisps. Spunk also means spirit.conjurersThurses: Another name for the giants of Norse myth, known as jötnar (singular jotun). Related to thrush, thrust.Spurns: see spoorns. Tantarrabobs: "Tantara" was a noise or distubance (i.e. a tantrum). Tantarabobus, Tantarabobs, or Tankerabogus were a Devonshire name for the Devil, or a playful nickname for a boy, man, or noisy child. Thus, tantara-bogus, or noisy bogle. (English Dialect Dictionary, vol. 6.)Swaithes: “the spirit or double of a dying person” Wikipedia links this to svartalfar.Tints: possibly related to “shades” or “shadows”Tod-lowries: mentioned with Yarthkins and Tiddy Muns as dangerous spirits that must be frequently appeased. Tod Lowrie is a Scottish name for a fox or a crafty person. Lowrie comes from the name Laurence. However, I have also found this name used for a good brownie and defined as "Red Bonnet".Jack-in-the-Wads: will-o’-the-wisps. (See Meg-with-the-wad.)Mormos: In Greek myth, Mormo was a companion of the goddess Hecate – a vampire-like spirit who preyed on misbehaving children.changelings: Some fairies would steal human children and replace them with elfish babies.redcaps: cruel dwarfs or goblins who dipped their hats in bloodyeth-hounds: (yell hounds) A type of black dog from Devon folklore. Appears as a headless dog which runs wailing through the woods at night; actually the spirit of an unbaptized child.colt-pixies: Southwest England, New Forest and Dorset: a pixie which appeared as a ragged horse or pony and led travelers astray much like a will-o’-the-wisp.Tom-thumbs: Hey, it’s our old friend Tom! In this sense, the name may have been less related to the tiny knight of King Arthur’s court and more in the generic sense of a tiny person, here mischievous like an imp – see also mannikins. The earliest existing mentions of Tom Thumb identify him closely with fairies, and the oldest copy of the story from 1621 includes many references to occult superstitions.

Full blog post on Tom Thumb's appearance in the Discoverie of Witchcraft

black-bugs – same as boggarts, bugbearsboggarts: a spirit of the house or abandoned place; tended to be seen as malevolentscar-bugs: "Scar" is here a form of "scare," and "bug" is from the bug/bogle/bogie root.shag-foals: shaggy donkeys which would terrify and chase travellers on lonely roads. Lincolnshire, England. People also made reference to "fairies and shag-boys." Shag could also meant a loitering person in ragged clothing., or as a veb it could mean to sneak offhodge-pochers: A hobgoblin. Hodgepoke is an alternate name for Puck.hob-thrushes: see hob-thrustsbugs: as in bugbears, not insectsbull-beggars: bugbears. also bull-bear or bully-beggar.Surrey has a tradition of bullbeggars, with places like Bulbeggar Lane. A bullbeggar would pretend to be a hurt person, and lie in wait to terrify anyone who might try to help (Encyclopedia). Here is some speculation on what, exactly, a bull-beggar looked like.bygorns: Definition unknown. (Perhaps a bicorn, a horned animal similar to a unicorn?)bolls: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, boll, bolly, or bolleroy is another term for bogle.caddies: Definition unknown. Caddie did exist as a term for a boy or young man, particularly a servant boy or golf attendant. In John Hutton's A tour to the caves, in the environs of Ingleborough and Settle (1781), caddy is given as a word for a ghost or bugbear.bomen: contraction of bogeymenbrags: Northumberland, Durham: a creature appearing as a horse or donkey, which tricks wanderers into riding it and then throws them off into a lake and runs away laughing. Similar to a kelpie or pooka. See the Picktree Brag.Wraithes: “the spirit or double of a dying person” Waffs: “the spirit or double of a dying person”flay-boggarts: See "boggart," of course. "Flay" means to frighten. A flay-boggard was a terrifying hobgoblin; a flay-boggle or flay-boggard was a scarecrow or ridiculous, badly-dressed person. (English Dialect Dictionary, vol. 2)fiends: an evil spirit or demongallytrots: black dogsImps: repeatedgytrashes: black dogs – also appearing as horses or mules. Though fearsome, they may either lead people astray or help them home.Patches: Patch is a fairy appearing in the “Life of Robin Goodfellow,” a shapeshifting being who punishes lazy housewives by making them dirtier than ever. Patch was also a common name for a court fool at one time.hob-and-lanthorns: will-o’-the-wisps; see also hobby-lanthornsgringes: Definition unknown, but in old dialects, to gringe or grange means to grind the teeth. I'm imagining a monster that grinds its teeth a lot. (A Glossary of Words and Phrases Pertaining to the Dialect of Cumberland; The English Dialect Dictionary).boguests: see Barguests, barghests. Black dogs of Yorkshire.bonelesses: a specter, described by Ruth Tongue as a shapeless bogeyman of the night. In Slaivc folklore, vampires first appeared as boneless masses. Some dhampirs were born with no bones.Peg-powlers: A river hag who drowned careless children. The footnotes call her “evil goddess of the [River] Tees” and described a similar character, Nanny Powler, who haunted the Skerne, which was connected to the Tees.Pucks: Puck or Robin Goodfellow of Shakespearean fame. Other names: Hob, Hobgoblin, Willy Wisp, Crisp, Hodgepoke, Puckrel, Lob-lie-by-the-fire, Pug, Hob, Lubbar fend, Puckling, puck-hairy, Pixie, Pug-Robin, Robinet.Fays: fairiesKidnappers: This could be a purely mundane fear, but also recalls stories of fairies kidnapping human children and leaving changelings.Gallybeggars: A scarecrow, or according to backofthecerealbox.com, a ghost that carries its head around in its arms.hudskins: definition unknown. Perhaps related to Hodekin, Hudgin or Hutchin, a house spirit whose name means Little Hat.nickers: neck/water spiritmadcaps: Archaic word for lunatic.Trolls: A monster from Norse and Scandinavian folklore, with depictions varying from huge giants to tiny dwarves. Although trolls could vary wildly from story to story depending on location, they tended to be unfriendly to humans.Robinets: dimunitive of Robin; an appellation of Robin Goodfellow/Puck. A thirteenth-century manuscript mentions Robinet (mentioned in On Friar Rush, pg 16)friars' lanthorns: will-o’-the-wisps (lanthorn = lantern)silkies: In Orkney and Shetland, a selkie was a shapeshifting seal woman.Cauld-lads: Also Cowed or Cowd Lad. The Cauld Lad of Hylton was the ghost of a murdered stableboy according to some sources, but also shows up as a brownie in Joseph Jacobs' English Fairy Tales. death-hearses: The Death Coach, in Ireland and Britain, was a silently moving coach driven by a headless horseman. It was an omen of death.goblins: a monster from European folklore, usually small, ugly and evil, often with magical powers. The word was first recorded in the 14th century. The Medieval Latin "gobelinus" was the name of a demon haunting Evreux, Normandy. It may be related to the German "kobold."hob-headlesses: malicious hobgoblin who haunted a road close to the River Kent. Any travelers who stopped to sit on his rock were glued in place and trapped.bugaboos: see boggy-boes, bogartsKows, or cowes: a “cowe” is a hobgoblin. The Hedley Kow was a mischievous shapeshifting elf, similar to the Brag of Northumberland.nickies, neck/nixie/water spiritnacks, neck/nixie/water spiritWaiths: “the spirit or double of a dying person” Miffies: Miffy is a nickname for the devil in Gloucester. Presumably related to Old French "maufé" meaning devil. (Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, The English Dialect Dictionary​)In addition, "miff" originally meant “fit of ill humor” and later evolved into “to take offense at.” buckies: perhaps related to Puck, pooka, Bucca (Cornish), and Bwca (Welsh). The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "a perverse or refractory person." ghouls: a flesh-eating, graveyard-dwelling monster from Arabic mythology (the ghūl). It entered English literature in 1786, in William Beckford's novel Vathek.sylphs: created by Paracelsus as a name for air elementals.guests: an older pronunciation of ghostsswarths: As with swaithes, Wikipedia links to svartalfar, the dark elves of Norse myth. I think it’s more likely to be related to swaithes/waithes/wraiths, or to shadows, shades and tints. Either way, the clear association is with darkness.Freiths: probably the same as freits.Freits: superstitious beliefs and practices, omens and sayings. An example might be hanging rowan twigs over the door. "Freits follow them 'at freits follow” – Scottish proverb.Alternately, perhaps related to “fright,” and thus another word for a ghost. The term “silly frit,” originating in Welsh, is an unusually small creature.gy-carlins: On the Anglo-Scottish border, the Gyre-Carling was an old hag and fairy queen similar to the Nicneven and the winter goddess Cailleach. Carling or carline means old woman, and gyre may be related to greedy or ogress.pigmies: tiny people, originally from 14th century Greek descriptions of a race of dwarfs native to Africa. The term comes from the measurement between the elbow and knuckles.chittifaces: An old insult for someone with a thin, pinched face. Possibly related: in Chaucer, the “chichevache” is a monster that eats patient wives.nixies: female water spirits – see necks, nickies, nacksJinny-burnt-tails: will o’ the wispDudmen: rag-men, i.e. scarecrows made out of old rags and clothingHell-hounds: hellhound, a ghostly or hellish black dog which guarded the gate to the otherworld – i.e. Cerberus. Related creatures are Gabriel Hounds, Ratchets, Yell Hounds/yeth-hounds, and the hounds of the Wild Hunt.dopple-gangers: “the spirit or double of a dying person”boggleboes: related to bogle, bogeymanbogies: related to bogle, bogeymanRedmen: In Northamptonshire, the redman was a small solitary elf who wore a red cap, lived in wells or hollows, and could be tricked into providing gold, like a leprechaun. The Irish fear dearg or far darrig, literally “Red Man,” is a leprechaun- and clurichaun-like solitary fairy, dressed in red, with similarities to nightmares and a habit of leaving changelings. portunes: English finger-sized fairies, appearing as little old men, who worked on farms and might play pranks or grant wishes. Also: Portunes was a Roman god of doorways and livestock.Grants: a kind of bipedal horse that visits a particular town to warn of trouble, particularly fire. Gervase of Tilbury described it as a demon and a bad omen.Hobbits: The name seems closely related to hobgoblins and hobs. This name would later show up in a children’s book by one J.R.R. Tolkien.hobgoblins: repeatedbrown-men: Wikipedia links this to the Simonside Dwarfs, also known as brownmen. “The Brown Man of the Moor” was a dwarf and guardian of nature who lived “beneath the heather-bell” (John Leyden) and took terrible revenge on those who disobeyed him.cowies: see cowe, kowe, Hedley Kowdunnies: a kind of brownie from Northumberland which may appear as a horse to trick riders or ploughmen. The Hazelrigg Dunny was a ghost.Wirrikows: A hobgoblin. The Scottish wirry-cowe was a fearsome bugbear or goblin; the name might also be used for a scarecrow or for the Devil himself. The name probably comes from “worry” (in the older sense of harassment) and cowe, or hobgoblin.Alholdes: "Dialogue of Dives and Pauper" (1493) mentions the "setting of mete or drynke, by nighte on the benche, to fede Alholde or Gobelyn." The word could be related to Holda, Germanic goddess of childbirth, spinning, and winter, who sometimes served as the leader of the Wild Hunt. In German, the unholden were fiends or monsters. Joseph Ennemoser's History of Magic (1819), translated from German by Mary Howitt, described "holds" or "holdiken," the offspring of witches and demons. Holdiken took the forms of butterflies, bees, or worms.Mannikins: tiny little people.Follets: feufollet, French will-o’-the-wisps; perhaps also related to farfadets, tiny brownie/leprechaun creatures of Brittany, or folleti, wind fairies of Sicily.Korreds: In Brittany, miniature red-eyed goblins with black skin and forked tails that live in tombs called domens.lubberkins: lubber fiend, lurdane or Lob Lie-By-The-Fire; a Puck-like brownie or hob that appeared as a large, hairy, tailed man. One story described him as the child of a witch and the Devil. Related: the abbey lubber is a demon that haunts abbey cellars and kitchens and tempts monks to gluttony. One abbey lubber is named Friar Rush, also the name of the will-o’-the-wisp.Cluricauns: similar to leprechaunsKobolds: German gnomes.Leprechauns: an Irish fairy, usually depicted as a mischievous little man with a beard, who could be forced to give gold to a person who caught him.Kors: probably related to korred or korigan; korr means dwarf.mares: nightmares. Similar to an incubus or succubus in practice.korreds, repeatedpuckles: Ashley: puckrels are witches' familiars, pukeholds and pukes are demonic creatures that live underground. Ashley also mentions the Irish pooka, Welsh pwca, Cornish bucca, Puck, and Puck-hairy (probably a name for the devil).Korigan: In Breton lore a Korrigan was, literally, a “small dwarf;” however, depictions varied and they sometimes appeared as lovely but evil female fairies of rivers and springs.sylvans: Clearly related to the woods somehow. Sylvanus was a Pan-like deity.Succubuses: female incubuses.Blackmen: bogeymen. In Germany, the bogeyman is called Der schwarze Mann (the black man) due to his habit of hiding in dark places like closets and under beds.shadows: Basically just shadows, I guess.banshees: a ghostly woman who was a portent of death.lian-hanshees: the Celtic leannán sí or fairy lover is a beautiful woman who gives inspiration but also sucks life away.clabbernappers: Near Gravesend was a large cave called the Clabber Napper’s Hole. The story, transcribed in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1803, is that the owner was a kidnapper or freebooter. Clabber supposedly comes from “caer l’abre,” i.e. the dwelling in the woods.Gabriel-hounds: another English name for hellhoundsMawkins: Sussex name for a scarecrow. Also used for foolish people, hares, or a generic name for a woman (promiscuous or not). Perhaps related to the names Maud and Malkin (nicknames for the May Queen) and Malekin. Malekin was a child ghost and changeling who haunted Dagworth Manor.Doubles: “the spirit or double of a dying person”Corpse lights or candles: In Wales, a ball of flame seen on the route to the cemetery or within the graveyard. An omen of death. Also related to will-o’-the-wisps.Scrats: Germanic domestic fairy or nature spirit (schrat, schretel). Jacob Grimm suggested that this name evolved into the Devil’s nickname of Old Scratch.mahounds: a Medieval variant of the name Muhammed, used to depict him as a pagan god or demon. This was tied to the idea that Muslims worshipped Mohammed.Trows: In the Shetlands and Orkneys, kind of like a troll.gnomes: The word comes from "gnomus," used and possibly invented by Paracelsus to describe earth elementals in the 16th century. It was later used to describe small celestial creatures in the 18th-century poem "The Rape of the Lock." Since then, the English word has come to describe tiny little men with long beards and pointy hats, most commonly seen as garden statues.sprites: legendary creatures such as fairies, elves and pixies. Sprite comes from the same root as "spirit."fates: In Norse and Greek mythology, triads of old women personified the force of fate.fiends: repeatedsibyls: Greek oraclesnicknevins: described in the footnotes as “mother witches.” This was a diabolical Hecate-like figure, appearing as an elderly hag. Nicneven was also a Scottish fairy queen; the name apparently came from a woman who was burnt for witchcraft. Related to Gyre-Carling.whitewomen: The German Weisse Frauen and the French Dames Blanches are troops of otherworldly ladies. One, the Dame d’Aprigny, forced people to make obeisance to her before they could pass along a narrow path.fairies: a type of mythical spirit famous across Europethrummy-caps: In Northumberland, thrummy-caps were little old men who lived in old castle cellars. "Thrum" is a frayed fringe or tuft. (Wiktionary)Cutties: Say the footnotes: “These are a certain class of female Boggles, not altogether peculiar to Scotland, who wore their lower robes, at least, a-la-bloomer.”A knocker-like spirit called Cutty Soames would cut miners’ ropes.Nisses: helpful Finnish brownies. Also called tomten.apparitions: ghosts or something frightening that would appear